Forest approach this game top of the Championship and unbeaten,
although they have two draws in their last three Championship
games. But Forest also arrive on the wave of emotion as they
commemorate the ten year anniversary of Brian Clough's death.

We will see a sea of green,
with the Cup sponsors donating green jumpers to all the travelling
Forest fans to replicate Clough's favourite attire. It was in
an FA Cup game at the Lane in 1971 that he started to come to
notoriety as a manager with the club that he went on to win two
European Cups with.

But those days are long in the
distance and this is will only be the third meeting since the Tricky
Trees fell out of the Premier League in 1999. However, with
Stuart Pearce, a disciple of Clough, in charge, he is hopeful of
bringing the good times back to the City Ground and this might be a
good test to see how his side might cope should they gain promotion
at the end of this season. Like many clubs (including Spurs),
Forest have had a merry-go-round of managers in recent times and
maybe Pearce can give some stability of the new owners of the club
stick with him.

As for the playing staff,
there are few names remaining form the Premier League days, with
only one name familiar to Tottenham supporters likely to ring a bell.
Andy Reid is still producing decent performances as he uses his
experience to drive Forest forward. Around him, he finds a
mixture of ex-Prem players and youngsters on their way up.

Matty Fryatt has top flight
experience with Hull City and Leicester City, while Dexter
Blackstock (Southampton), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa), Michael
Mancienne (Chelsea) and Danny Collins (Sunderland & Stoke City) have
all played in the Premier League. Soon to follow them will be
promising goalkeeper Karl Darlow and Jamal Lascelles who signed for
Newcastle United and have been loaned back to Forest ... but that
does suppose the teams don't pass each other in opposite directions
at the end of the season.

Greg Halford played in the
Premiership with Reading and Wolves; Danny Fox at Southampton and
Henri Lansbury was at Arsenal. Defender
Jack Hunt is on loan from Crystal Palace, while David Vaughan played
midfield for Sunderland and Blackpool in the top division and Jack
Hobbs was at Liverpool as a highly rated up and coming centre half,
but he failed to make more than a handful of appearances.

Pearce has got the team organised to be solid at the back and quick
to break with Lansbury, Reid and former Sheffield Wednesday and
Reading winger Mikael Antonio ready to switch defence into attack
quickly. With new signing Britt Assombalonga from Peterborough
United
looking dangerous having made the step up to the Championship, they
have a potent goal-scorer who is fast and strong on the ball. Having
had trouble with dealing with Saido Berahino, Assombalonga is a
similar striker.

Darlow is a keeper who interested Spurs, but he chose to move to
Newcastle with much touted centre half Jamal Lascelles. Darlow looks
a good shot stopper and is a brave goalie, but he looks like he
needs to cam down sometimes, especially when crosses come in, as he
seems to think he can get anything that is thrown into the box and
he sometimes over-reaches himself. Lascelles looks a composed
defender, with QPR close to signing him in the summer to partner
Steven Caulker, but he has been allowed to return to Forest after
also signing for the Toon.

Another defender known to Spurs is Michael Mancienne, who played a
few games at Chelsea before de-camping to Hamburg. A ball playing
centre-half, Mancienne has a bit of pace and likes to bring the ball
out from the back, while alongside him might be Kelvin Wilson, a
strong centre-half who has returned from Celtic for personal
reasons, but has not had many chances this season.

Tottenham will need to work hard to make sure they equal the effort
that Pearce will demand from his Forest team. The tempo we play at
can determine how Spurs take the game to Forest. A slow build up
will allow numbers to get back behind the ball and make it hard to
break them down. Any time that Forest break forward from the back,
Tottenham need to capitalise on any space that might be available to
move into.

Against WBA, the movement off the ball was not good, allowing them
to tie Spurs up, but moving the ball quickly and pulling Forest
players
around might give opportunities to whoever plays up front. And
playing two up front might give the Championship side more problems
at the back than having four against one.

Forest will play a strong
side and look to hit their wingers early, who, in turn, will play
early balls into the box. For Spurs, the key will be the
transition from back to front and then the ability of the player son
the end of that to take their chances.

It might take longer than 90
minutes, but I can see Spurs sneaking it even though the team will
be much changed from Sunday.

TOTTENHAM
HOTSPUR TEAM NEWS :
Andros Townsend is fit after recovering from a kick on his leg in
Belgrade last week, with Michel Vorm possibly being given a chance
between the sticks and Roberto Soldado could start up front.

NOTTINGHAM
FOREST TEAM NEWS :
Forest will be without midfielder Chris Cohen, defenders Jack Hobbs
and Jack Hunt for the match. They are joined on the sidelines
by midfielder Andy Reid and striker Matty Fryatt.

This League Cup tie was bereft
of much excitement until the 62nd minute when Nottingham Forest
scored and Tottenham decided to start playing, following a couple of
shrewd substitutions by Mauricio Pochettino. The 3-1 result
flattered Spurs, with the last goal coming in added time, but at
least they were pushing on until the end and taking their chances at
last.

Match stats showed Tottenham
had 20 shots at goal, with only five on target, some of which was
due to the 'ambitious' shooting of Andros Townsend. I can't
remember de Vries being called upon to make many saves and for the
majority of this match, the now familiar pattern of the last few
matches was played out against Championship side Forest. Ball
retention was the main aim so it seemed, with no concern about going
forward to pressurise the visitors' defence. One up front,
once more meant that the ball failed to stick up front often enough,
with the midfield not quick enough to support Soldado on his own up
top and when we did get into good positions, too often the delivery
into the box found a red shirt, the keeper's hands or flew too high
and deep.

With Forest fielding a
weakened side, it was a good opportunity for Tottenham to test out
the new, improved Poch style, with some tempo and intent. What
it turned out to be was a turgid first half, with Spurs lucky to be
going in level.

While Spurs seemed to
control the play well, knocking the ball around comfortably, it was
the other side who posed a greater threat when they went forward.
Jan Vertonghen had taken a shot when he rampaged forward, but his
final touch before his shot took the ball too close to Wilson, who
blocked his shot as he met the ball. Our Belgian defender held
his foot after de Vries had to dive to his right to push the ball
wide. Benjamin Stambouli was crunching into tackles and
Aaron Lennon chasing back to win the ball off Forest as they looked
to go forward. It was a disjointed performance in the first
half, with Paulinho not contributing much and Soldado starved of
supply, it left him running trying to close down opposition
defenders. Paulinho did hit the ground after winning the ball
off Fox in the Forest penalty area and seemingly being pulled back,
but Marriner was having none of it. The ref did see fit on two
occasions to stop play for Forest players on the floor - neither of
which were head injury victims and got up to play on without any
treatment. It was another masterclass from the school of how
not to referee.

Halfway through the first
period, Ben Osborn broke forward in the right hand channel from
halfway and found Spurs players backing off, so he moved inside to a
central position, past Fazio and he fired a shot that beat debutant
Michel Vorm, but not the crossbar, with the ball coming back off the
face of the woodwork and away. A low cross came back in,
which Vertonghen half cleared to McLaughlin, who bent a shot on
goal, but it was straight at Vorm, who caught it easily in his
midriff. Townsend began his carpet-bombing of the Park Lane
crowd, Naughton let fly from way out and Lascelles stopped it
getting through to the goal with his face and then Fazio strode out
of defence to hit a 25 yarder that fizzed just over the bar.

There were a smattering of
boos at half-time as the teams headed for the dressing rooms, but an
interview with Paul Allen, mainly about the 1991 FA Cup Final
lightened the mood a little. Paul Coyte made a comment about
the many memorable Spurs-Forest games of the past, but you felt this
wasn't destined to be one of them.

The second half kicked off
with Tottenham looking a little more urgent going forward, but they
failed to threaten that much. In fact, Osborn had the first
chance of the second half, hitting a shot across goal and missing by
a couple of yards to the right. Tottenham's best chance came
from Ben Davies' left wing cross that came in thigh high and
Paulinho flicked out a foot to divert it towards goal, but the ball
missed the far post by inches. It was the pre-cursor to the
opening goal of the match, but it came at the other end.

A shot by lumbering
centre-forward Lars Veldwijk was blocked by a challenge from
Naughton, with the ball spinning wildly left towards the dead ball
line, but it didn't go out. Fazio went to close down Veldwijk,
but he crossed the ball low back towards the penalty spot and picked
out Jorge Grant, who had the simple task of putting the ball over
the line from four yards out with nobody in front of him. It
was a lax piece of defending allowing too much space and time in the
box. Davies had been left with two players at the far post and
was split between them, allowing Grant to get to the ball first.
The boos rang down and the team had not really looked much like
scoring all night and a shock exit looked on the cards.

The concession of the goal
did seem to kick Spurs up the arse a bit, with Paulinho flicking a
header wide from Naughton's cross, but it was the last part he
played, with Kane coming on for him and Ryan Mason replacing
Stambouli. This immediately seemed to pick up the tempo, with
Mason passing the ball around sharply and with the two subs joining
Townsend and Bentaleb form the Under-21s, they knew each other's
games, so linked better. Having Kane up front also seemed to
share the load on Soldado, who suddenly was finding the ball and
space around the box.

With twenty minutes left,
Vertonghen tried to charge forward and shoot again, which he did,
but the block took the ball wide to Davies, who put in a well-placed
cross, which Kane met with his head, but planted it straight at the
goalie. A minute later, Spurs worked a good spell of
possession and Ben Davies fed the ball infield form the left to Ryan
Mason, who took a little back-lift and drilled a shot at goal.
The next thing we knew, the ball had rippled the net and was
nestling behind de Vries, as it dipped and beat his late dive.
It was a bolt out of the blue and just what Spurs had needed,
showing if you do buy a ticket, you can win the raffle !!
Mason had made his debut at Wolves six years before and had seemed
like the perennial one who might make it, but this time he took his
opportunity, with a good performance, linking play and getting
forward with smart passes that found their target.

The goal suddenly gave Spurs
new impetus and a clumsy foul on Kane by Lascelles on the edge of
the box saw Andros line it up and we all thought we knew where it
would end up. However, he surprised us all by dipping it over
the wall and leaving the keeper standing, as the ball smacked
against the bar. Then Mason and Bentaleb both pulled shots
wide of the goal before Spurs went ahead for the first time in the
game. Mason received the ball 25 yards out, but this time, he
back-heeled it into the path of Townsend, who drilled in a low shot
that was going wide, until Roberto Soldado reacted quickly to divert
it up and over the keeper and into the net for 2-1. The crowd
cheered, because, for all the lack of appreciation he appears to get
from the media and the analysts, the Spurs crowd generally want him
to do well and the goal was greeted by his usual mauling by
Townsend, so expect more Twitter bant !!

Forest looked disheartened
and lethargic after that goal and when Erick Lamela immediately
replaced Soldado, the visiting players must have been haunted by the
thought of what he might do to their tiring limbs. He enjoyed
a brief cameo, running at the red shirts and leaving them in his
wake, trotting out a few tricks. When he got the ball from
Mason on the halfway lien, he ran forward and played a 'look-away'
pass to send Kane in on the right side of the box. Having
missed chances like this already this season, Harry set himself to
strike the ball low inside the side netting on the other side of the
goal, beating de Vries' dive to make it 3-1 into added time at the
end of the match. It was a good goal and showed that he had
learned from previous situations he had been in and it rounded off a
good substitute's appearance from him.

Prior to the goal, Naughton
had a go from 30 yards out and his shot was easily fielded by de
Vries, as it was straight at him, but when Lamela embarked on a run
from 35 yards out straight at the heart of the defence, his shot
ended up kissing the bottom of the keeper's left hanf post and going
wide, in what would have been a very unfair score-line for Notts.

Forest had enjoyed their day
out. The team had shown that they could live with a
Premiership side and Grant will have a goal he will always remember.
Their fans sung well and threw plenty at the Spurs crowd, but,
wearing their free green jumpers to commemorate Brian Clough's death
ten years ago, by the end, they were looking a little green about
the gills. There were few worries apart form the shot that hit
the bar and the goal, whereas, Tottenham did cause Forest plenty of
problems and they still have to work on being more clinical.

It will be a totally
different side that takes to the pitch against Arsenal, but a repeat
of the first 70 minutes will see us get a spanking. A repeat of the
last twenty minutes might see us give them a game, but it will need
everyone to be on their toes. Looking comfortable on the ball
and making it pay are two different things and Tottenham have to
turn one into the other.

James
Martindale

PUB
FACT*

Nottingham Forest were not
named after the dense woodland around Nottingham, but about the
defect in the wood of a tree therein, which resembled the ham
produced in nearby Gotham (Knot-Gotham in Forest).

The club
bear two stars over their club crest on their shirts to signify the
two star players that have graced those shirts throughout their
history - Terry Hennessey and Jon Olav Helje.

Match sponsors

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Match sponsors

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Match ball
sponsors

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Match programme
sponsors

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Match shirt
sponsors

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What you
thought

The Funky Phantom

Heard someone on the phone on the platform at Northumberland Park
station, "Yeah. Some guy called Manson scored the first goal for
Spurs."

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Other scores
during this week :

Arsenal

1

Southampton

2

Tuesday

Cardiff City

0

Bournemouth

3

Tuesday

Derby County

2

Reading

0

Tuesday

Fulham

2

Doncaster Rovers

1

Tuesday

Leyton Orient

0

Sheffield United

1

Tuesday

Liverpool (win 14-13 on pens a.e.t)

2

Middlesbrough

2

Tuesday

Milton Keynes Dons

2

Bradford City

0

Tuesday

Shrewsbury Town

1

Norwich City

0

Tuesday

Sunderland

1

Stoke City

2

Tuesday

Swansea City

3

Everton

0

Tuesday

Burton Albion

0

Brighton & Hove
Albion

3

Wednesday

Chelsea

2

Bolton Wanderers

1

Wednesday

Crystal Palace

2

Newcastle United

3

Wednesday

Manchester City

7

Sheffield Wednesday

0

Wednesday

West Bromwich Albion

3

Hull City

2

Wednesday

* Pub facts may not actually be true, but after a
few pints everyone will think so.